Suspect shipyard contractor gets huge state deal for Camp...

1of67Shannon Flanagan checks the ruins of the restaurant she and her husband owned that burned in the Camp Fire.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2018

2of67The flattened homes at Mountain Meadow Court at Country Oak Drive, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, in Paradise, Calif. As of this morning, the Camp Fire has burned 140,000 acres. The wildfire is 40% contained. 56 people have died.Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

3of67As PG&E crews work behind it, a burned out car sits in Bille Road after Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. on Friday, November 9, 2018.Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

4of67Charred cars and power lines sits along Pearson Road in Paradise, Calif. Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018 after the Camp Fire ripped through the entire town.Photo: Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

8of67A downed telephone pole off of Elliott Road after the Camp Fire tore through the town of Paradise, California, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

9of67An incinerated vehicle is seen abadoned in the middle of Pearson Road after the Camp Fire ravaged the town of Paradise, California, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

10of67Evacuee Suzanne Kaksonen nuzzles her cockatoo Buddy after sleeping in a tent a week after fleeing Paradise where the Camp Fire destroyed her home in Chico, California, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018.She stayed in a tent near the parking lot at Walmart along with many others as it acted as a makeshift evacuation site.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

11of67Sheriff's deputies yell to drivers to evacuate the area off of Pentz Road during the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

20of67Evacuees Gary Vail embraces wife Janice Vail as they sit in their car after sleeping there and after escaping their home from the Camp Fire at a makeshift evacuation site at Walmart in Chico, California, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

21of67Evacuee Ron Irick sits in a friends car after sleeping there with his newly rescued dog Jojo after escaping his home in Magalia from the Camp Fire at a makeshift evacuation site at Walmart in Chico, California, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, The Chronicle

32of67A half melted statue of Jesus is seen at Troy Miller's property after the Camp Fire tore through the area on Concow Road in Concow, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

36of67Troy Miller who survived the Camp Fire in what he called a "miraculous act of God" recounts his experience of making it through the fire on Concow Road in Concow, California, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

37of67Greg Woodcox poses for a portrait with his dogs, Romey and Jules, after recounting his harrowing escape from Edgewood Lane from the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. while standing near his Jeep watching the fire from Chico Airport in Chico, Calif. Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

38of67Members of the San Francisco Fire Department gather together to check out an area map in Paradise, Calif. Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 before surveying areas where Camp Fire ripped through the town of Paradise, Calif.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

40of67Alameda County Sheriff's Dept. Sgt. Howard Baron looks in a burned vehicle while searching for fire victims in the Rocky Lane Mobile Home Park in aftermath of Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. on Monday, November 12, 2018.Photo: Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

41of67A water meter is seen melted outside of a home that once stood on Billie Road after the Camp Fire devastated the entire town of Paradise, Calif. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

42of67Animal volunteer evacuator Tamara Houston, left, comforts Cathy Fallon outside Fallon's home Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018. Fallon survived the Camp Fire while bunkering down in her home on Edgewood Lane after the Camp Fire ripped through the town of Paradise, Calif.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

43of67A horse is seen badly burned with chunks of its mane missing after being left behind when the Camp Fire ripped through Paradise, Calif. Maple Leaf Lane Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. A group of local volunteers soon came to rescue it and seven others.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

44of67Brad Weldon checks on his mother, Norma Weldon, 90, as they stay inside their home after the Camp Fire devastated the entire town of Paradise, Calif. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. Weldon stayed in his home with his 90-year-old mother, Norma Weldon, and roommate, Mic McCrary, as the fire overtook their entire neighborhood while leaving his home untouched.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

48of67Brad Weldon carries water dropped off by passerbys back to his home, through his neighborhood that was destroyed after the Camp Fire devastated the entire town of Paradise, Calif. Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. Weldon stayed in his home with his 90-year-old mother, Norma Weldon, and roommate, Mic McCrary, as the fire overtook their entire neighborhood while leaving his home untouched.Photo: Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

55of67Evacuee Jonathan Taylor stands on the road to take photos of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. His house and family business are in Paradise and he is concerned they will be gone when he goes back home.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

The state agency in charge of wildfire cleanup has awarded a contract worth as much as $250 million to the company at the center of San Francisco’s Superfund scandal — an environmental engineering firm that was caught falsifying soil tests and is being sued by the U.S. Justice Department, whistle-blowers and homeowners.

Pasadena-based Tetra Tech Inc. will lead the “debris management” process after Butte County’s devastating Camp Fire, sparking concerns from environmental groups and the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that a company accused of widespread misconduct in San Francisco will have such a large role in the state’s wildfire recovery.

Two former Tetra Tech cleanup supervisors were sentenced to prison last year after admitting they faked soil tests at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a 500-acre site tainted with radioactivity. After checking the company’s data, the Navy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have said they can’t trust most of it. Now many areas need to be retested and residents living on a purportedly clean part of the shipyard doubt their safety. The Navy has said the fraud and the retesting may cost taxpayers more than $500 million.

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“We are concerned that Tetra Tech continues to receive contracts amidst ongoing Department of Justice whistle-blower lawsuits into their fraudulent work at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard,” said Taylor Griffin, a spokeswoman for Pelosi, who said last year that Tetra Tech should not receive any new federal contracts. “Wildfire victims of California must have confidence that recovery efforts are accurate, trustworthy and safe.”

The contract, valued at $250 million, represents the biggest-ever single award for wildfire cleanup by CalRecycle, and an amount larger than any of Tetra Tech’s current federal contracts. The Camp Fire, which began Nov. 8, destroyed nearly 14,000 homes, essentially wiping out the foothill town of Paradise on its way to becoming the most destructive wildfire in California history.

The huge award is just one of several recently handed to the company by CalRecycle, which has been tasked by the governor’s office to deal with the removal of debris and hazardous waste left in the wreckage of last year’s deadly wildfires. In addition to working on the Camp Fire cleanup, Tetra Tech has deployed crews to the regions scarred by the Carr Fire in Shasta County (a $14.4 million contract) and the Mendocino Complex Fire ($1.5 million). Tetra Tech also consults for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has handled other wildfire cleanup duties in California.

Bradley Angel, the executive director of Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, a local environmental watchdog group that has asked the federal government and the state to revoke Tetra Tech’s nuclear materials license, called the continued flow of public money to the company “mind-boggling.”

“Tetra Tech should not be getting a penny of government funds, or taxpayer dollars, to work on issues that they have shown they cannot be trusted on,” Angel said. “It is improper and raises serious questions about who our government is protecting.”

Sam Singer, a Tetra Tech spokesman, said that the company “does not discuss details about its contracts and awards for which it competes.” Tetra Tech has previously said it did nothing wrong at the shipyard and has blamed problems on a few “rogue” employees.

CalRecycle said in a statement: “In previous wildfire debris removal operations, Tetra Tech has proven to be a reliable debris management contractor, meeting CalRecycle’s high standards for health and safety, performance, and operational accountability.”

Governments regularly hire private companies to help clean up after natural disasters. Responding to last year’s wildfires, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services gave CalRecycle the responsibility to deal with debris and hazardous waste. CalRecycle selected Tetra Tech to handle one phase of the Camp Fire job after a public bidding process. Tetra Tech employees mobilized in the field and began work on Monday; the job is expected to last one year.

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cleaning up the Camp Fire, which burned 240 square miles of Butte County, will entail clearing out an estimated 8 million tons of debris — about four times what was removed from the 2017 Northern California fires — and a witches’ brew of potentially hazardous household materials, from pesticides to plastics to paint.

“The fear is that these chemicals turn into something when they burn that is as toxic or more toxic than their parent materials,” said Tom Young, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UC Davis, who is studying the health problems that may be posed by the remnants of the 2017 Wine Country fires. “People are worried about growing a garden after a fire, and they’re worried because their kids are exposed.”

As wildfires become more frequent and more destructive, as is expected with a warming climate, disaster cleanup has become a bigger business. The cost of clearing Camp Fire debris alone is expected to top $3 billion.

The recent state contracts obtained by Tetra Tech give the company broad powers and responsibilities that will affect communities for years to come.

The company’s role is essentially to quarterback the cleanup process in each wildfire location. The first phase is handled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which go in after the fires and remove the most obvious hazards. Tetra Tech picks up from there. The company collects soil samples, manages the data, monitors the air for toxic chemicals and searches for any remaining hazardous substances, including radioactive materials and asbestos.

Tetra Tech also sets the ground rules for how contamination should be removed and when the site can be declared clean; the actual waste disposal is handled later by other companies.

Tetra Tech long served in a similar position at San Francisco’s former shipyard, gathering data about the site that was used to make disposal decisions and leaving the disposal to others.

Nationwide, Tetra Tech has been involved in a wide variety of post-disaster projects, contracting with governments to clean up after ice storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. According to a 2017 company document, Tetra Tech has helped 300 state and local government clients deal with “over 50 declared presidential disasters, representing the recovery of more than $4 billion in disaster grant funds.”

In California, working for CalRecycle, Tetra Tech deployed in the aftermath of 2017’s Thomas Fire in Ventura County, and before that performed cleanup tasks on the Erskine, Clayton, Detwiler and Helena fires.

Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said the role of the private sector in disaster-recovery work will only grow. And so will the possibility for problems.

“What I’m worried about is: Is there enough oversight?” Redlener said. “My sense is that bad work and overcharging is very frequently a problem and the government does not know how or doesn’t have the wherewithal to do the oversight. In almost every large disaster where things have to be rebuilt, there’s always stories of people getting horrible work. Everyone’s in a rush. There’s so much to be done. People want their houses back. They want their lives in order.”